Jack Foulard

I called AoA @ 1.800.367.2834 and spoke to customer service about transmission choices.

The lady was very nice and after I told her that the 2.0T avant quattro needs to have the 6mt, in my opinion, she mentioned that others have also contacted them with the same recommendation/requests.

The phone call took maybe 3 minutes. I know other have called in the pas but maybe those that haven't could put a call in for the 2.0TFSI Quattro 6mt.

I test drove the 08 a3 and a4 in 6mt this weekend and was very pleased with the 6mt. Here in the Denver area the turbo was needed for better pulling. The sales guy is going to the a4 launch in 2 weeks so said he would be getting more accurate information for the inner world of AoA. If anything interesting comes from my conversation with him, I will post here.

Too excited about the new A4!

markcincinnati

Do the phrase "show me the money" mean anything?

Audi, repeatedly, has brought mt's to the US, only to find their costs rise and their sales decline.

This is a money issue -- not a polite phone call issue.

A close friend of mine owned three dealerships:

1. VW
2. Porsche
3. Audi

He was on the "dealer" council for years for Audi. He shared his experience watching the market's change from 90% stick to 75% stick to low single digit %'s requests and actual orders for sticks.

He told me about his "vouching" for customer orders for sticks for the A6 -- guess what, they never came.

He had mt inventory sit and sit and sit and sit on his lot, waiting for the EOY incentives, plus cutting his margins to nearly nuttin' for sticks.

He also shared the Audi's decline in FWD sales over the years: "people will simply NOT come in and pay Audi prices for FWD." Moreover, he said his AWD Porsche sales grew and grew (my BMW dealer friend says over 40% of the Bimmers he sells are AWD, constrained only by availability.)

A phone call?

Make a deposit on an mt BMW and send the receipt to Audi -- put your money down; only this will (if in sufficient numbers) make any change possible.

I'd bet we're in the last days of mt's for Audis (in the US at least.)

Don't waste their time -- sales talk; talk, just, well, you know, talks.

Jack Foulard

OK. If you want an Avant with 2.0 quattro, call AOA anyway.

Mark, no disrespect, just another view. Time will tell.

kr964

and then they gave us 6MT Passat for MY 2007.
Would not be surprised if AoA changes their mind about 6MT Avant next year.

markcincinnati

I am not advocating silence, just saying "pocketbooks" are stronger than words.

kr964

They have been always selling many more automatics in the US. Audi never even offered a stick in a A6 Avant or a cabriolet for example.

6MT cars maybe less popular right now but please stop implying that the drop is so dramatic (90% a few years back to single digits today). It has been always like this.

And what kind of logic is this anyway ?
They offer very few models with 6MT to begin with, almost never have them on the lot, never advertise them and then the dealers complain that people do not want to buy them...

How come BMW can still sell 6MT on all of their 3 and 5 series models, including 535xi touring wagon and X3 SUV? Yes, they sell very few of them but apparently they realize that it has been the nature of american car market for years and can deal with it.

Or do you think it is because people were sending them order receipts by fax ?

trisport

First, to make a pocketbook statement I need something to buy...so if the only Audi A4 Avant with 6MT I could buy was used would they care?

Just curious. If it helped, I could buy a B7 to help the cause here for B8 6MT!

markcincinnati

. . .he sold mt Audis, for a few years, and they were sold at a pace (in his dealership) in the 70's at about 90%. I bought my first Audi in 1977, a 5000, MY 1978 -- automatics were special order at the time.

As time progressed, this dealer shared the shift (no pun intended) toward more and more automatics. By the end of the 70's, the mt had declined to 3 out of 4, then the march to automatics simply continued to where it is today.

I assume the same dealership (no longer owned by my friend) sells perhaps 95% or more as automatics.

It may well be true that Audi of America never sold 90% or 75% -- I do not know. My source is a former owner of the Porsche+Audi store in suburban Cincinnati. I met the man in 1977 and purchased my 27th Audi from the same dealership in 2005 -- and I ordered my 2009 A4 from the same place.

Almost all of my Audis have been sticks. The one's that were not sticks, with the exception of the 2009 I have on order, only came with autos:

1997 A8
1999 A6
2000 A6 4.2
2001 A6 4.2
2005 A6 3.2

All the other Audis I have had were sticks, in an era when it was very difficult to find automatic Audis (at this particular dealership in this geography.)

For years, moreover, VW's with autos, too, were the exception.

I started this journey with these cars in 1977 and it continues through today.

When I shopped for my 2003 allroad -- I did, indeed, have to special order one with a stick shift, for at that time, the auto had become fully entrenched.

Thus it remains so today.

PDXA4

Fingers crossed that the same thing will happen...

snowchaser

both 3 series and 5's as they understand the enthusiast market where AOA could care less.